The Princess Bride Adventure Book Game , chapter 4. Went pretty easily. This chapter we were going through the Fire Swamp, dodging hazards and killing ROUS (Rodents of Unusual Size, of course). Itās an ok game I suppose. But every challenge is just āplay these coloured cardsā.
Blackout: Hong Kong , hadnāt played this for ages, so it was a slow start as we went through the rules again. With that out of the way it was pretty smooth. But took us forever, like four hours. I was checking the rules to see if we were meant to remove some cards from the deck or something, but no. The deck running out is the only trigger for game end. Maybe we werenāt going through the cards quickly enough? Still, it was enjoyable. The puzzle of hand management, resource gathering, and area control is pretty cool. And I won, which was a first for me for this game. Got a bit lucky, some things just worked out. My hospital was full of people (every time you scout, you lose a random card to the hospital, and they donāt count for points at the end of the game).
The Key: Sabotage at Lucky Llama Land X 3. Lost the first game, 27 to 22. Lost the second by 34 to 18. And lost the third with 34. I really need to select cards a bit better, Iām getting to the answer, which is fine, but using too many cards. We donāt take many of the 4 value cards. I was confused by the difference between the swing ride and the swing boat ride in the park. I restarted, code was wrong, so rubbed everything out and did it again. Not strictly in the rules, probably because you could see a code close to yours, maybe one digit off, and just redo that digit. I didnāt check the colour of any of the close codes on the board, so didnāt know if I was close.
The Key: Murder at the Oakdale Club X 3. A bit trickier, since you need 4 numbers for the code now. I got 46, winner was 38. Second game I managed the win, score tied with another player, but I had used less lab cards (the 4 value ones). Missed the code on the third game, just one digit wrong.
Furnace X 2, with just one other player. This game is just so easy to teach, but thereās a bit to think about. Both games were close, won the first 66 to 62, lost the second 104 to 100. Didnāt think my score in the second game would be so good, had a terrible round where I had no resources, just upgrade tokens. So no money for a round, which is not good news in a four round game. Picked up a bit later, and sold my upgrade tokens for good money. And I had the capitalist that could run a card twice for two coal, that came in handy. This is really a solid engine builder. Two player uses a dummy player, who places his discs at random, from lowest to highest. So you could be on course to get a card, and then have the dummy player play a higher disc, just bad luck.
Had another two games of The Key: Sabotage at Lucky Llama Land at 2p. Lost both, just couldnāt put the information together.
Fantasy Realms , a quick game to end the day. I think weāve played this every gaming day since I bought it.
